Monday, April 28, 2008
By Sean Barron
Two walkers wanted to honor a mutual friend who died from the disease.
YOUNGSTOWN — When he was in his 20s, Jim Salata sensed something was amiss after experiencing slight numbness near his right eye.
The sense that Salata may have multiple sclerosis stayed with him and years later, that feeling was confirmed when the 56-year-old Youngstown man’s entire body went numb.
“I knew I had symptoms for the longest time,” said Salata, a former flooring contractor who was diagnosed in 2001, and who used a walker to take part in the Multiple Sclerosis Services Agency’s 17th annual MS Super Walk on Sunday in Mill Creek Park.
The four-mile walk through the park began and ended at the Wick Recreation Area off McCollum Road. Along the way, more than 200 participants raised money to serve the needs of area residents with the disease by securing donations on a per-mile basis or taking flat amounts.
Prizes ranging from $75 to $250, as well as T-shirts and sweat shirts, were given to the walkers who turned in the top amounts.
For more than 20 years, Eleanor Bell of Lake Milton has used water therapy programs she said have given her much greater muscle control. About a month after starting, Bell, who was diagnosed in 1967, went from being depressed and unable to walk to taking steps and navigating a few stairs.
The 65-year-old Bell, who attends aquatic therapy once a week at the YMCA in downtown Youngstown, offered what she thinks can be beneficial to those struggling with the disease.
“Don’t give up or give in to your depression,” Bell said, adding that she’s taken part in the walk each year. “Get involved with an MS group and get to know people who have it.”
Fatigue was nowhere to be seen on the faces of Jeannette York and Barbara Katzenberger after the two returned from their four-mile jaunt.
Both women participated in part to honor the memory of a mutual friend, Lynn Drokin, who died recently from complications related to the disease. York, of Howland, and Katzenberger, who lives in Warren, finished in about an hour, and said they also wanted to help raise money for those affected.
“I’m blessed with good health,” York added. “You should give back to those who aren’t.”
One of the best treatments for MS is water therapy, largely because of buoyancy and resistance, which stimulates certain muscles, noted David Kondzich, president of the Austintown-based Multiple Sclerosis Services Agency.
Kondzich, whose wife, Nancy, was diagnosed about 15 years ago, said that roughly 800 people with MS in Trumbull, Mahoning and Columbiana counties are registered with his agency.
Symptoms of the disease, as well as their severity, vary from person to person, he continued, but one general prognosis indicator for people with MS is to look at the frequency of attacks during the last seven years. That can be a good predictor for how they will fare during the next seven, Kondzich pointed out.
Also important for fighting MS are a good diet, exercise and a positive attitude, Nancy Kondzich explained.
“I’m one of the lucky ones,” she said. “I have a good mental outlook.”